


Footprints In Ink

by raendown



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, First Date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 12:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14401818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Their first date is an unmitigated disaster - and Sakura could not be happier.





	Footprints In Ink

Despite being intimately familiar with the proper care for a new tattoo, it was incredibly hard not to scratch at the sore spot high on her left arm. She resisted mostly because Kisame was right there and she would catch a hell of a lecture from him if she fucked up his artwork after so many years of waffling over letting him ink it on to her.

Concentrating on the vicious words likely to be thrown her way if she gave in to her urges helped keep her calm, however, and she very desperately needed something to help her not look like an overexcited schoolgirl. Kisame had known her since she was young enough to actually be a giggling schoolgirl and he would definitely be able to spot her nervous habits a mile away if she let them show even the slightest bit.

Surely the first date with your best friend in the whole world – after having a crush on him for what felt like half your life – was allowed to be nerve wracking? If it wasn’t then Sakura was probably breaking all sorts of dumb unspoken rules because every time she stopped to think about it she felt like her stomach was going to come up out of her throat. Her only comfort was that Kisame seemed to be equally, if not more, nervous than she was – and he wasn’t even any better at hiding it, just better at distracting her when she started to rib him for being so obvious.

His nerves were blatant in more subtle ways than hers, though. Where she was prone to blushing and fumbling her words, Kisame’s nerves came out in the form of all the pains he’d taken to make this evening perfect, the careful planning he’d done so that nothing got missed. The restaurant he made reservations for was the one they’d always eaten at to celebrate every major event over the course of their long friendship, from good grades to promotions. The flowers he had ordered were her all-time favorites. Even the shirt he’d picked out to wear was one she’d told him he looked particularly nice in.

All the best laid plans had a chance to fail, however, and the evening ended up definitely not going at all how Kisame had planned for it to. When they arrived at the restaurant there was a mix-up with their reservation and the place was too busy to seat them anytime in the next hour so they’d ended up eating fast food instead. The flowers he ordered had come in the wrong color and when he complained the store employee had thrown them in his face. She’d been fired for it but that still left him with only the option of buying some premade bouquet of flowers that were _not_ Sakura’s favorite and _not_ the right color. To top everything off, his shirt had gotten covered in muddy water when some asshole drove through a puddle and Kisame used his body to shield Sakura and her pretty new sundress.

By the end of the evening he looked more miserable than anyone deserved to be on their first date – or any date, actually. Under any other circumstances Sakura was certain that she would have been just as miserable herself but there was one bright spot that made the entire evening worth it, mishaps and all: a disgruntled Kisame was always strangely adorable. The way he grumbled about the flowers and apologized for dripping muddy water around their table at the fast food joint tugged at her hopelessly smitten heart.

The last straw was when he insisted upon walking her to her door. It was largely unnecessary since they only lived one floor away from each other in the same apartment building but he would not be swayed from marching up that extra flight of stairs just to see her home.

“I’m supposed to, aren’t I?” he rumbled as they came to a stop outside her door. Sakura smiled at him.

“Where do you get your dating tips from?” she teased. “You didn’t look up a few articles on how to be a gentleman by any chance, did you?” Mostly she was just joking but when her best friend averted his eyes uncomfortably she knew she’d hit just a little too close to home. So cute.

Rubbing at the back of his hairline, Kisame sighed. “Well…sorry the night was ruined. Do we, uh, do we get to try this again sometime or is this, like, call it a bad job and go back to where we were?”

He had clearly put a lot of effort in to planning this night and, even if it had all gone so spectacularly wrong, Sakura found herself more charmed than ever. Probably more than she would have been even if everything had gone well. There was really only one answer for her to give him and she didn’t hesitate in the slightest to tug on the front of his sodden shirt and pull him down in to their very first kiss. As soon as their lips touched Kisame froze, his hands flailing around while his mind tried desperately to catch up, until finally they settled on her hips and pulled her even closer.

Completely uncaring that his clothing was getting her own dirty, Sakura groaned and slid her fingers up in to his hair. He was dirty and he smelled terrible and she was so in love her knees were threatening to buckle out from underneath her.

“I didn’t think the date went _that_ well,” Kisame murmured against her lips. Sakura laughed.

“Oh trust me, it really didn’t.”

“So what did I do to earn this then, eh?”

“Well.” Tilting her head back, she took a moment to enjoy Kisame’s sharp toothed grin while his fingers traced the shape of her arms, careful to avoid the tattoo he himself had inked in only a few hours before. “Who ever said you had to earn it? I’ve loved you for years, you big loser, what makes you think one bad date is gonna change my mind?”

“Hmph.”

When his eyes darted away from hers again she felt a burst of affection in her chest at his embarrassment. Then she was laughing as he bent her over backwards, apparently having decided that distracting her was best. Really, though, she had absolutely no issue with kissing him again so Sakura let him do as he would and melted in to the embrace without a single care.

Their first date might have seemed like a disaster to anyone that didn’t know them but in her mind this evening had been a ringing success. A new tattoo, a new boyfriend, and a new beginning. What more could she want?


End file.
